Conventional solutions for fabricating semiconductor and integrated circuit devices have a substantial and direct effect on the cost of production and indirect effects on the potential revenue generated from the sale of commercial electronic products. However, conventional solutions are inefficient and do not account for product development trends. Typically, fabrication facilities do not optimize initial capital investment in tooling, machinery and equipment due to the rapidly advancing development in semiconductor technology. In other words, conventional solutions typically require large expenditures for capital investment in equipment used to fabricate semiconductor devices, which often becomes obsolete before the equipment has been fully depreciated, resulting in the loss of potential utilization. This trend with conventional solutions typically occurs due to the rapid rate of change in technological innovation in semiconductor-related technologies, particularly the reduction in size of semiconductor feature sizes and the ability to place a larger number of semiconductor devices such as transistors in a smaller area. Cost and time inefficiencies in conventional semiconductor development process typically result in overall industry cost increases due to relatively short usage of expensive equipment that is typically taken out of use before being fully depreciated.
Semiconductor device research and development is at the cutting edge of technology. The rapid rate of growth and development within the industry requires manufacturers to continuously update and modernize their tooling, machinery and equipment in order to remain competitive with other semiconductor manufacturers. However, non-fully depreciated equipment may be taken off line before being fully utilized (i.e., fully-depreciated) and set aside or often sold to other manufacturers at discounted prices resulting in substantial loss. These losses are typically accepted since the revenue generating potential of new semiconductor devices typically outweighs the loss of removing older equipment from service. The significant time and capital required to establish and maintain a modern fabrication facility typically contributes to the higher costs of semiconductor devices initially. As the equipment is removed from service, semiconductor device prices typically fall as semiconductor equipment is sold to second-line manufacturers. Yet costs are still relatively high for conventional semiconductor device manufacturers due to typical process allocation of semiconductor fabrication.
Conventional solutions for semiconductor device fabrication typically involve a single fabrication facility performing a range of processes, including conventional front-end-of-the-line (i.e., FEOL) fabrication processes and conventional back-end-of-the-line (i.e., BEOL) fabrication processes. As one example, conventional FEOL fabrication can include all processing steps necessary to fabricate a functional die including CMOS circuitry fabricated on the die (e.g., a die on a semiconductor substrate such as a silicon wafer) and in some applications memory fabricated on the same die as the CMOS circuitry. Whereas, conventional BEOL fabrication can include metallization steps to form pads for solder bumps, cutting (e.g., singulating) die from FEOL wafers and placing individual die in a package and electrically connecting pads on the die with bonding pads on the package, or attaching solder bumps to an array of pads on the die in preparation for attaching the die with a flip-chip package. The BEOL fabrication can also include soldering the die to the flip-chip package and encapsulating the die. However, the cost of tooling a fabrication facility to perform both conventional FEOL and conventional BEOL processes is expensive. Further, the costs of tooling for performance of BEOL processes is substantially more expensive than FEOL processes, the latter of which typically involves the fabrication of base complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) wafers. As the technology for BEOL processes advances with new innovations in semiconductor device technologies such as memory, processors, and the like, costs associated with tooling to meet fabrication demands are typically high and increasing, particularly if BEOL processes are being performed for a number of individually developed technologies such as integrated circuits for memory, processing, graphics processing/acceleration, or other functions. However, conventional FEOL and BEOL solutions are expensive to use when developing new memory technologies since unique tooling and equipment are required for the fabrication of the memory elements of a semiconductor device. In other conventional solutions, when a company considers entering the industry of semiconductor fabrication, the startup costs associated with purchasing equipment to perform conventional FEOL and BEOL processes are prohibitively expensive, requiring substantial startup investment costs. Although some conventional solutions may generalize the formation of devices on a silicon or other type of substrate, the interconnecting wiring, metal, or other layers deposited during the BEOL processes are typically different for each “fabless” semiconductor organization (i.e., company) that has developed a specialized application for the products resulting from the FEOL processes. Regardless of whether these companies intend to focus on the development of products resulting from BEOL processes, investment must still be made in equipment in order to form the necessary base CMOS wafers associated with FEOL processes. In other words, advancements in technology are generally associated only with the back end of the line BEOL processes. Front end of the line FEOL processes, such as forming circuitry on a substrate are standardized. However, conventional fabrication methods do not allow one facility to invest in just FEOL techniques or just BEOL techniques. Conventional methods require investment in tooling, equipment and machinery necessary to effectively manufacture a semiconductor device.
There are continuing efforts to improve non-volatile memory fabrication technology, processes, and business models.
Although the above-described drawings depict various examples of the invention, the invention is not limited by the depicted examples. It is to be understood that, in the drawings, like reference numerals designate like structural elements. Also, it is understood that the drawings are not necessarily to scale.